Amputational affection
by Greatkingrat88
Summary: Deneve and Helen fight an awakened being, but the beast is more clever than they thought. As Deneve patches up Helen after the fight, the two reach a realization about each other's feelings. Deneve/Helen, read and rate


Helen threw back her head and laughed, swinging her blade to the side, swatting away the thick, red blood running down its side. This was the life! After Miria had taken down the organization and settled down in Rabona, there hadn't been a hell of a lot to do. So, when the chance to hunt down the remaining awakened being under the sponsorship of Rabona had come, she had jumped at the chance to to volunteer. Deneve had followed her without a word; it had seemed obvious she would be by her side. She always were.

So here she was, hacking away at a huge, leathery and vaguely insectoid awakened being, having a ball. She couldn't keep the grin from her face- never did she feel as alive as when she fought a battle for life and death.

The monster staggered; she had landed a series of critical hits along its underside. With their teamwork, this had been a enough of an exercise to work up a sweat, but hardly a challenge.

Letting a surge of yoki flow through her body, her right arm elongated, spinning around, twisting, forming the ready shape of her signature drill sword. It would be the perfect finisher.

Shouting with the joy only battle could bring her, she got a running start and launched herself toward the monster.

Deneve watched impassively, her swords at the ready. She felt uncomfortable; these rocky outdoors at the foot of this mountain, plentiful with caves and little forests, was home turf to this awakened being they were facing, and it had been for over twenty years. True, it had not put up much of a fight, but something put her on edge. She saw Helen charge, her drill sword at the ready.

...slowly, she began to realize that this, this was too reckless. Something was not quite right, Helen was _in danger_-

Helen jumped. This was great. A quick bath in a nearby river after this, and they could be back in nearby town by nightfall, drinking beer in the tavern, sleeping under a roof-

The pain was sudden, but nowhere near as great as the surprise. Suddenly, she found herself skidding on the ground, her sword arm severed some five inches below her shoulder, her body impaled in four places by these sharp, bone-like spikes, undoubtedly from the monster itself.

"_What the hell...?"_

The monster, unhurt, turned around. Its face leering, it walked toward the downed warrior, its first pair of taloned, scythe-like arms ready to eviscerate her-

and then, Deneve was there, right between them. The monster, being the careful sort, jumped back, putting distance between himself and the stoic warrior.

"Helen?" Deneve asked, wasting no words."

"I ain't exactly in the shape to do a polka, but I'll live." She groaned.

Deneve nodded. This could go badly; this awakened was much stronger and craftier than it had led them to think it was. She had observed carefully as Helen jumped- the monster had, when Helen was about to rip right through its body, divided its entire form in several smaller parts- six, not counting its four arms, she had counted- held together only by sinews. Helen had passed between them, and the monster had counterattacked when she was defenseless.

The monster chuckled., haunched on its hind legs like a frog. In one of its arms, it held Helen's arm, the sword nowhere to be seen.

"You warrior hunters are all the same." It rumbled in what it probably considered its most menacing voice.

_Good,_ Deneve thought, _keep talking._. She needed to reassess the situation anyhow. She took a good look at it:

Two pairs of arms, The first pair, with two joints, looked like jagged scythe arms of a praying mantis. Long reach- it would give it the advantage of reach, but not necessarily very dangerous on their own. The second pair, shorter and ape-like, like a gorilla's arms without fur, and with claws instead of nails. Powerful, but only if she let them hit her.

"You seem awfully confident. How many have you killed so far?" She said, her voice void of emotion.

"Oh, five... seven, once I've finished the both of you." With a sneer, it crushed Helen's arm in its claws. It would be useless to her now. "All of them were _so _cocky. Everyone had a special move, and all of them thought I was weak. They thought I was weak back when I was human too. Sure showed them."

"You think you have no weak points."

"Do I? If I do, nobody found one."

"Defensive type." Deneve stated. "Careful and unaggressive, preferring to attack from ambush. Very efficient against normal warriors. Enough cunning to lull a team into a false sense of security."

"Astute." The beast moved itself subtly, as if only readjusting its position. "But, then again-"

It leapt. Deneve, having anticipated its attack, moved to the side, jumped upwards in a somersault, and as the scythes came in to skewer her midair, she parried the blows, and before she had landed, counterattacked.

The beast spat. One of its scythe arms had been severed at the first joint, hanging there only be the skin tissue.

Helen groaned, yanking the last of the spines out of her body. None of them, amazingly, seemed to have hit a vital spot, but they seemed to be poisonous. The wounds were looking purplish, and her vision was blurry. _Fuck! _

This was _bullshit. _Her arm was gone, she was losing blood, and _she had let a mediocre awakened being get the better of her_. That part in particular stung, almost as much as losing an arm. Panting, she managed to get on her feet. She took a good look at the fight, still going strong.

Deneve was _amazing_, such was her impression. The beast let out a flurry of attacks, swipes, jumping back and forth with deadly mobility, and Deneve's reflexes and acrobatics were still too good. The beast landed one hit after another but, this was plain to see for Helen, none of them even came close to being vital. Each wound would be gone by the minute.

Now, Deneve had dived inside its outer guard, her swords bearing down. What would she do? She couldn't counter all of that, no way-

ans then Deneve had severed its shorter, more humanoid pair of arms, but at the same time the scythes came down on her from behind- she couldn't guard that! _Deneve, you idiot! What would I do if you died, huh?_

...and then Deneve reached up, just as the scythes were coming down. There was that sickening sound of blades piercing flesh, and Deneve had been run through

_Oh my god lease don't let her be dead, please god no-_

...and Deneve raised her arms, and sliced off the second pair of arms at the base, too. And then Helen saw it; she hadn't failed to counter the counterattack. She had anticipated it, and guided it to cause as little damage as possible, in exchange for dealing as much damage as possible. Because she could heal.

Powering through the pain, Deneve stuck her swords into the ground, and grabbed first the right spike that had gone through her shoulder, snapped it, and pulled it out. It hurt like hell, but another swell of yoki helped her ignore it as she repeated the process with the other spike. She was now unarmed, the monster within only thirty yards, but it was busy healing itself, obviously shocked she was not dead yet. She herself was at fifty percent yoki release; these injuries were petty for her healing ability now.

"You know," hissed the monster, "if you have a special move, you better pull it. I don't know what kind of desperate gamble that was, but you can barely move. Better try a heroic last effort, like in the storybooks. Always works, right?" It grinned, showing two rows of sharp teeth.

"Special skill? I don't have anything like that." Deneve said, taking hold of her swords. "I just kill things."

Helen watched as the fight began anew, the monster now at the defensive. Fuck this. She couldn't stand by doing nothing, not when she could still move. Looking around for her sword, she found it lying near where she had crashed. Extending her left arm, she grabbed it an began stumbling towards the monster.

Deneve methodically swung her swords at the monster, forcing it back. It was regrowing its arms, but her ploy had worked- it could only run, and she was tracking it wherever it jumped, slicing its body wherever there was an opening. She was straining its healing powers, she knew it, but it didn't seem to want to just _die already._ She sighed inwards, bearing down on it with all force she had.

Suddenly, from behind its back, a long arm lashed out, stabbing at the back. Roaring, the monster monster separated its body again, on pure instinct. Helen's arm passed through it without so much as nicking it. Without even batting an eyelash, the monster severed the hand along with half her forearm. Helen screamed, but it had not all been for nothing- just before the sinews closed again, Deneve had jammed one of her sword up into the upper body part of the monster, and as it clamped shut the blade was driven deep inside the monster's vital area. The beast screamed, staggering backwards from this unexpected pain.

Deneve, not missing her chance, jumped up, swinging down towards its head. Desperate, the monster lashed out, its scythe arm taking half her shoulder clean off along with her arm. Not hesitating for a moment, Deneve grabbed the sword with her remaining arm, and swung down.

There was a slight "thud" as the blade crushed through the skull of the awakened being, slicing into its skull, spraying brain matter over the ground.

"You really wanted... victory, this bad?" Hissed the beast. "Not even a claymore can heal this many wounds, not even a defensive type..."

Not bothering to answer, Deneve's shoulder began to reform itself, bone and muscle tissue regrowing before the monster's eyes. Within half a minute, Deneve flexed a new arm.

A look of shock passed the monster's face before it died.

Deneve looked around, after retrieving her first sword from the monster's body. Her other arm, the one she had lost, had been crushed in the monster's death throes. And Helen... feeling a most urgent concern, she hurried over to her fallen comrade. She was alive, that much was clear, but in a sorry state.

"Helen."

"Fuck.." she said, spitting blood. "Some trip this was, huh? Gonna hafta report to Miria after this, too..."

"Don't talk. We need to heal you." Looking around, Deneve realized she didn't have that many options. If only they had brought somebody skilled at yoki manipulation, this might not have been such a problem.

"Heh, wanna give me a hand here?" Helen said, trying to sit up. She chuckled, sounding not completely sane. "Shit Deneve, I'm a cripple! This is..." she trailed off.

Deneve simply lifted her up, carried her a few feet off, and put Helen down, propping her back against a rock. "Are you about to pass out?"

"N-no..." Helen groaned. "I kinda hurt, though. Like, really, really badly..."

Deneve looked carefully at her, judging the measurements. "Listen, Helen. I need you to hold what's left of your sword arm out for me. Can you do that?"

"Fuck, you don't mean-" Helen began.

"Please."

Hesitant, Helen held her stump out. Taking a careful look, Deneve held up her sword. She only had one chance at this. Helen bit her teeth together, and down the blade came. Another few inches of Helen's arm had come off, in a clean cut. Helen cried out, a tear trailing down her cheek from the pain.

"Listen, you don't have to do this, we can just get back to Rabona and get Galatea or somebody to fix me up-"

Not even listening, Deneve sheared her right arm off, at precisely the length needed. Catching the limb before it had fallen, she handed it to Helen.

"Here. I'll help you."

Helen, too weak to protest, let her put the arm to her stump. She let her yoki flow, and a few minutes later, the arm was attached.

"Can you use it?"

Helen nodded, flexing her new arm. "Hey, look at that..." she said, her voice weak. Deneve nodded, and sat down. Releasing her own yoki, she focused on regrowing the arm she had just taken off. Taking it slowly, carefully, she slowly let it regenerate. Regenerating a limb was not something to do lightly, even for somebody as good as herself. She was the only person she knew who was potent enough to grow limbs during a fight, and even so, using that amount of yoki was dangerous. Taking it slow, she let the bone grow, the sinews and muscle and skin coming after. In the quarter of an hour, she now had a new arm. Again.

"Hey, Deneve... I'm sorry." Helen began. "I was reckless, I was stupid-"

"Save that for later." Deneve said, grabbing Helen's other stump. This was a better one by far- only half the forearm gone.

"...you're kidding, Deneve." Helen said. Deneve shook her head.

"No way!" Helen protested. "No way! You strained yourself too much already." Struggling weakly, she tried to pull her maimed arm away, but Deneve gripped it firmly.

"This will hurt." She said, as unemotional as ever. Down came the blade, and a few inches more of Helen's arm came off, leaving her with a clean(er) wound. Helen screamed, no longer able to hold back.

Carefully measuring with her eyes, Deneve raised the sword one final time. Down came the blade, and half her left forearm came off. Not even acknowledging the pain, she held the limb up to Helen. When she first would not accept it, Deneve simply grabbed her arm, and forced it onto her. The poison had made Helen weaker, and a few minutes later, a little bit of yoki streaming had given Helen a second full arm.

"Can you move them all right?"

Flexing her new arms, Helen nodded. She seemed too weak and sick to talk, but her arms... were fine, at least. Lying back, Deneve focused her yoki one final time, and slowly began regrowing her arm.

They sat like so, immobile, quiet, recovering, for hours. Deneve was on the alert, ready to fight if necessary, but there was no denying she felt weary- very much so.

Then, when the sun had started to move its course to lower itself beyond the horizon, with evening setting in, she stood up, and scooped the still exhausted Helen into her arms. She was a little feverish, but there was no doubt she would make it. She was strong, Deneve knew it.

She looked around. Walking to the nearest city in their state was- well, possible, but not necessary. They were warriors, and they could spend the nigh out even during winter. Walking up a small hill, she carefully sat herself down under an oak tree. Relaxing, she closed her eyes. This wasn't so bad. Helen was in her arms, safe and sound, and a night of sleep would make them both feel better.

After a little while, Helen stirred, opening her eyes. After looking around for a little while, she said:

"...why, Den?"

Deneve raised an eyebrow.

"Why did you do that? You know, with the arms and all..."

"They do not suit you?"

"No, no..." Helen waved her sword arm around. It fit her nicely, working as well as if it had been her own arm. "I just... that's very risky, Deneve. Regrowing arms at will..."

"I knew exactly what I was doing."

"But-"

"Was there a risk of overexerting myself, maybe dying? Yes. Small, but it was there. Would I do it again? Definitely."

"But _why_?" Helen snapped. "I could just- Cynthia or Galatea know how to fix these things! You didn't have to!"

"Rabona is three days away. You could have lost too much blood. Or gotten an infection. Or gone past the point of healing, maybe handicapped yourself permanently. Too many "ifs", too many possibilities."

"I..."

"Look, don't be so careless in the future, and we'll call it even." Deneve said, hugging her close.

"It... just felt kind of upsetting to see you cut your arms off, just for me."

Deneve shrugged. "I can heal. You can't. And for you, I would have lost my legs too if necessary."

"..."

Deneve sat quiet.

"How can you be so callous?" Helen asked quietly. "It's your damn _arms_, Deneve!"

Deneve looked her in the eye. "Listen, Helen. Listen carefully. I've given it a lot of thought, and I would die for you if I had to. I didn't do this at the drop of a hat."

"...you'd die for me?" Helen seemed surprised. "Like you would for, uh, for all our comrades?"

"Even more so for you." Deneve said, her tone betraying no emotion.

"Why?"

"It's only fair." Her voice was something like a verbal shrug.

"_What_?"

Deneve looked her in the eyes. "The way I see it, it's only fair. Back then, back before we met, I was trying to find death in battle. You know the story. If it hadn't been for you, I would be a corpse on some anonymous battlefield by now. I think it's fair to say I owe you a life."

"That's stupid-"

"No. It's _not._" Deneve's tone was hard, not budging an inch. "I don't care if it makes you uncomfortable. It's my decision."

Helen gaped, shut her mouth, and gaped some more. "I... listen, I'm an idiot! I charge in without thinking! I ruin battle plans! If it weren't for me underestimating that thing, you wouldn't have had to-"

"I know." Deneve cut her off. "But you don't give yourself enough credit. I know you're not perfect, but that's why I am here: to watch your back. Besides, it's not like I'm keeping you from risking your life. So do not worry yourself."

Helen sighed. "I really am hopeless, aren't I..."

"I don't think so."

Without thinking, or quite knowing why, Helen pressed her lips to Deneve's. Something about how calmly Deneve had stated her devotion, something about that deep sense of reliability, the loyalty- it had moved her.

It was nothing like the trashy romance novels she had read in her spare time in Rabona. Time didn't stop. The earth didn't move for them. It was a little awkward, and their noses got in the way, and it was over quickly- but Deneve had kissed her back! Or was it just her imagination?

Her mind began to race, thinking far too fast and far too much at one time. She had ruined their friendship? Or had she? Would Deneve push her away? Would they have to pretend nothing happened? Would she have to put up a front, make excuses-

As seconds passed, she realized there was _no reaction at all,_ which for some reason felt infuriating. Deneve had raised he eyebrows ever so slightly, barely noticeable to anybody but Helen, the one person who knew Deneve better than anybody.

"You kissed me." It was a statement. Not a question, not an exclamation.

"I- I, ah, uh..." Helen was rambling. "Look, I was just, ah, um, feverish and the poison and I am exhausted and I didn't mean any-"

And then Deneve, pressed her lips to Helen's, and the second time was little less awkward. Time didn't quite stop, but for just a moment, it felt like the earth had moved. It might have been the feverish delirium from the poison, but at this point, Helen did not even care.

"_You_ kissed _me_!" Helen exclaimed.

"You started it." And there was a smirk on Deneve's lips, ever so slight and only noticeable this up close.

"But..."

"But what? I didn't mind."

"Um..." Helen felt like she ought to object in some manner, for some reason "But, BUT!"

"But what, exactly?"

Helen just mumbled lamely.

Deneve gave a slight sigh, and kissed her forehead.

"Look, Helen... I don't mind doing this at all. I really don't. And if you want me to... then I will love you."

Helen stared. "Say what now?"

"You heard me. It's up to you."

"But we're both women!"

Deneve shrugged. "So what? These things happened all the time back in the organization. I don't have a problem with it, and I don't think you do either."

Helen, dumbstruck, sat deep in thought. That was... a completely alien idea. Did she like that idea? Was it worth pursuing? She sighed. Romance novels were the worst advisors _ever_ when it came to this. Whenever she would read one, some princess or wealthy land owner's daughter would always fall right into the hero's lap, they'd fall in love, some monster would kidnap her, she would be saved by him and they lived happily ever after...

Why couldn't real life be that easy?

"I guess..." she said, "I guess I'll think about it. Sleep on it. Whatever."

Deneve nodded.

"And just... one more thing." She pressed her lips to Deneve's for a third, final kiss. It felt... nice, all things considered.

"I'll sleep on it."

There certainly were worse people to end up with than Deneve, she thought, as she slowly drifted into sleep in Deneve's strong arms.

And so the two sat through the night, close together, recovering from their injuries, giving thought to their emotions.

And the moon shone on them with indifference.


End file.
